Komonchak was born in
Nyack, New York in 1939. He attended Cathedral Preparatory Seminary/College in Manhattan, and in 1960 received a Bachelor of Sacred Theology degree from
Saint Joseph's Seminary in
Dunwoodie, Yonkers. He studied at the
North American College in Rome, earning a
Licentiate of Sacred Theology from the
Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome. One of his instructors at the Gregorian was Jesuit theologian
Bernard Lonergan, whom Komonchak credited with restoring his faith in the future of Catholic intellectualism. He received a doctorate from
Union Theological Seminary in New York. Ordained in 1963, he did parish work along with college and seminary teaching, before joining the faculty at
Catholic University of America in 1977; he had among his students
Cardinal Tagle of
Manila. He was considered by many as the dean of American ecclesiologists. Komonchak is a leading interpreter of the
Second Vatican Council, co-editor of the English version of the five-volume history of the Council, and the chief editor of
The New Dictionary of Theology. In June 2015 he received the
John Courtney Murray Award from the
Catholic Theological Society of America, the highest honor it bestows. He served as a consultant to three committees of the
National Conference of Catholic Bishops, and published more than 150 articles. ==References==